Of A Hasty Ent
by Derwydd
Summary: A tale of Quickbeam. Not as I originally intended, but since I had to make deadlines at school for this assignment, I had to bend a few things. I'm improving it soon. Enjoy, I got a good mark.
1. Introduction

1.1.1 Introduction  
  
This is a tale about Ents. It is not a tale of elves, although a great many elves of no little repute enter into this tale, as after all, this is a tale of Middle-Earth. Now one might think that if this is not a tale of elves, it must be concerned with men or even the secretive dwarves. But when this tale took place the men of Middle-Earth were uncivilized and dwelt in shadow, while the doughty dwarves carved their deep halls in great mountains, away from searching eyes. No, this tale is concerned with Ents, or rather one Ent in particular.  
  
If you were to say you didn't know what an Ent was, I would not be greatly surprised, for today they are almost all gone, like the great forests from the days when the world was young. Now Ents are very hard to describe, for they are often quite different from each other, except that one could say they are all quite "treeish" in certain ways. That is not to say they are trees. They are much different from trees in many ways. To call an Ent a tree would be like saying the sky and seas are the same simply because they are both blue. No, Ents are somewhat like men in appearance, but one would certainly not mistake an Ent for a man. For one, there are no female Ents, though the elder Ents tell tales of Entwives, who once, long ago left the forests Ents to tend their gardens. As one might guess, Ents are very old and like the trees they tend, they are tall, strong and straight. But they are every one different, some resembling evergreens, some the beech, yew, rowan, oak and ash. Some have beards, some are very tall and some are not. In short, one might be lead to believe that they are much like us or much like trees, but they would be quite mistaken.  
  
An Ent can likely be quite a fearsome sight--especially if one is roused by some unlucky individual--but they have a very strange quality about them that often prevents them from reacting this way. They are very cautious of being too "hasty" as one elder Ent often puts it. Humans, for one, are much too hasty for Ents, with our great thirst for knowledge and power. Trees grow very slowly and hardly move at all, and aside from appearance, this is how Ents can be said to be most "treeish" for they are usually slow to act and move, preferring to be cautious and deliberate. In fact, some Ents have become so slow that they are almost trees themselves, seldom speaking or moving. But there was one Ent who has a reputation for being quite hasty indeed, an Ent quite young in the reckoning of his people. His name was Quickbeam.  
  
Quickbeam was quite an unusual Ent and his name was not the only strange thing about him. Quickbeam lived in Fangorn Forest, which was once part of the great forests stretching across the west of Middle-Earth. In those days, the great War of the Jewels was fought between the Dark Lord Morgoth and the noble Noldorin Elves of the West. The elves followed their leader Fëanor out of the west to reclaim the Silmarils from Morgoth, who had stolen them and destroyed the light of the Two Trees, which was held inside the Silmarils. But that is another tale, one that had long since passed in the First Age. This tale is of the Second Age, long after the great upheavals from the battles that had ended the First Age. Middle-Earth had changed, and many of the great forests were destroyed. The world was becoming the realm of Men and the age of the Elves was coming to a close. The Ents saw this clearly and withdrew to Fangorn Forest or became so treeish and wild that they simply ceased to be Ents. But Quickbeam came of age in Fangorn and so knew little of the great forests of the past, the Entwives or even the Elves. He was tall, even for an Ent and bore skin like a rowan tree. As an Enting he would wander the forests of his rowan kin in the heights of Fangorn, singing to the trees and laughing at the joy of life. For most children this would seem like a normal part of life, but for an Ent, this would be quite unusual and quite hasty.  
  
There was another Ent who lived in the heights of Fangorn, Skinbark. He was a very old Ent, almost the oldest in the forest. He was kin to Quickbeam and was wisest of the highland Ents, tending the birch trees. And he was not the least bit hasty. When he heard of this young Enting and his decidedly unentish behaviour, he resolved to have a long talk with this young one. Now Ents talk very slowly and for a very long time among each other and Entish is a very long and descriptive language. Skinbark quite reasonably assumed that any conversation with an Ent, no matter how young and impetuous, would be a long and elaborate affair, for even Entish names are quite long. But something happened then that never happened in the memory of any living Ent. Quickbeam answered the elder Ent before Skinbark had finished speaking, very uncharacteristically hasty for an Ent. Skinbark was quite taken aback and could never remember being interrupted, so he stood tall over the younger Ent, regarding him for a long time, thinking slowly and carefully and swaying with the wind. Finally he spoke. "Hmmm, you are a hasty one, quite hasty, hastier than any Ent I have ever known. Quick of beam you are…Quickbeam." With that he left the young Ent, muttering quietly about hastiness and impetuous Entings, leaving a young Ent with a new name. 


	2. The Beginning

1 The Beginning  
  
Quickbeam continued to be an unusually hasty Ent for many years, despite the quiet disapproval of the elder Ents, who could not fathom Quckbeam's curious nature. To them there was something not quite right about a hasty Ent, young or old, for the Ents were as old as trees and had yet time enough to spare upon Middle-Earth. They could not understand why he would wander across Fangorn Forest, laughing at the sun, the sound of waters of the Entwash River, even the wind rustling through the trees. Perhaps they were relieved then when he met the eldest of their number, the guardian of the forest itself. Fangorn the Ent was obviously not hasty, they thought, and he would be wise enough to do exactly what he saw fit to deal with Quickbeam.  
  
Of course, you must know Fangorn, for among Ents his name was held in greatest repute by the other races of Middle-Earth. He was the guardian of Fangorn Forest itself and maybe even the oldest living thing in all Middle- Earth. But although he was not hasty, he was also not slow and treeish like some other elder Ents. Treebeard, for that is what the Elves had named him, took a keen interest in the world beyond Fangorn's edge. He had many friends among the Elves, when he wandered across the ancient Elven forests of the First Age, defending his beloved trees from the evil Orcs and Trolls. He was not a sleepy Ent and spent much of his days watching the borders of his forest, for he saw quite clearly that though evil slumbered, it was never gone. This was how he encountered Quickbeam one fateful day.  
  
The younger Ent was wandering through the edges of Fangorn Forest, laughing as he followed the clear brooks of the forest, exploring the vales where even the great darkness from the beginning of the world still lay, much like any curious young human would do. He would sing to the rowan trees he encountered and sway gently with the wind as he walked, all very Entish things. Except that no Ent in his unhasty mind would do them all at once! Treebeard was walking much the same way, but much more slowly, careful that he was not too hasty, Hrumming and Hooming as he went, thinking quietly and carefully in his wise and unhasty way. They met in a small vale, where the darkness had never totally lifted, but the sun shone through nonetheless. Quickbeam nodded in respect to the elder, then made as if to move away! But Treebeard would have none of that. "Hrum, hoom, where are you going in such a hurry, young one?" Treebeard asked in a rebuking voice.  
  
"I am walking." Quickbeam said simply. "This forest is wide enough and there is much I have yet to see."  
  
"Hrum, is there something you are going to miss, then. It seems to me as if you are afraid the forest will disappear. Hmmm, it is very old, very old indeed, older than I. Certainly not going anywhere today." Treebeard rumbled, as if to himself.  
  
"But I am young and have much to learn, Skinbark has said so himself. There is so much to see in the forest and I have found many new things." Quickbeam countered. And he was quite right in saying Skinbark felt Quickbeam needed to learn, but he felt the younger Ent needed patience, not knowledge.  
  
"Hmm, you must be the Quickbeam Skinbark speaks of. Very hasty, much too impatient. Always must find more, you young ones."--Everyone was young to Treebeard--"Too hasty to see the world is much to large for one so young as you." Treebeard said, then continued slowly on his way, leaving Quickbeam behind to ponder the elder's words.  
  
After this brief meeting, a yearning awoke in Quickbeam that would not be quieted. His thoughts now turned to what lay beyond the eaves of Fangorn and to the tales of ancient forests he had heard from some of his elders. He was no longer content with the vales and groves of Fangorn, and prowled the outer reaches of Fangorn, gazing out onto the plains to the south and the rivers to the north. Treebeard would often find him here and would find himself beseeched by the younger Ent to tell him of Middle-Earth, as it had been when it was younger. At first Treebeard was very taken aback at the forward behaviour of this young Ent, for it was something that he had never seen in one of his kind before. There were hasty Ents, but they were never truly hasty, at least not like Quickbeam. Perhaps the old Ent saw something of his own youth in Quickbeam, however, for he had been a very adventurous type in his own youth and relented to Quickbeam's requests. Treebeard spoke of the ancient untouched forest of Taur-im- Duinath, destroyed at the end of the First Age, the mystical guarded forests of the lost realm of Doriath and the sacred Elven-woods of Lindon that had survived the great destructions. He remembered all these forests with a sort of sadness, as most had disappeared or were slowly fading. Treebeard's fond memories of the forests of Eriador, however, were always foremost in his tales. These tales did nothing to assuage Quickbeam's curiosity of the world beyond Fangorn.  
  
Quickbeam soon began to grow restless with of the ancient wood and looked ever to the forests of the north, where Treebeard spoke of Elves that lived in beautiful treetop dwellings. He longed to go there, but would not forsake the duty of tending to his rowan groves. Quickbeam still loved the forest he had grown up in but its dark and ancient beauty no longer brought him the joy it once had. His laughter was quieted and he became wistful, rather than happy. Ever was his gaze turned away from the forest, rather than to its heart. It was most fortunate for him that he met the elves.  
  
Elves are an old race, older even than the Ents. They had divided into many kindreds by Quickbeam's day, having been separated in the days when the light of the Two Trees was hidden in the west and all Middle-Earth was lit by starlight. Some went west, becoming the elves of Light, the Vanyar, Noldor and Teleri, greatest in mind and craft. Most turned away, living in scattered, distant forests, away from the eyes of men. They became Silvan Elves and many had settled in the forest of Lorinand, where Sindarin princes ruled them. These princes were kinsman of the Teleri and had remained on Middle-Earth's shores, but became great in mind and craft through contact with their cousins in the west. The Silvan elves, on the other hand, were a quite reclusive people, but under their rulers, they had transformed their forests into places of beauty and peace. However, their king Amdír, was unusually restless and he came often to Fangorn, for the borders between the two forests were vague in those days. It was there that he and his party of elves met Quickbeam, standing at the border, looking forlornly to the north.  
  
"Greetings tree-shepherd! It has been long since I have seen one of your kind so close to the borders of my realm. I hope I am welcome in these forests." Amdír said, for it had indeed been many hundreds of years since Ents from Fangorn had visited the fair Elven-wood of Lorinand. But in days beyond memory, Treebeard had decreed any elf that wished to could come into Fangorn. Yet, Quickbeam laughed when he heard Amdír's words, since it was not his decision who entered Fangorn and who did not.  
  
"I am not the guardian of this forest, so I could not say. But I do not believe Fangorn would begrudge visitors from Lorinand. I am called Quickbeam." He said in way of greeting. "Long have I wished to visit the forests of Lorinand. You would have my friendship if you could tell me what you know of that realm." Now Amdír's began to laugh.  
  
"I know that realm quite well indeed, for I am the King of Elves in Lorinand," he revealed. "And I can tell you much of the beauty of those forests." And so Amdír and Quickbeam became fast friends, as each would tell the other of the lands they had lived in. Amdír spoke to Quickbeam of his childhood home of Lorinand, where the great mallorn trees seemed to grow to the sky and elves lived high above the ground in their branches. His tales also turned to other lands he visited, like the massive forest of Greenwood the Great and the vales of the Anduin River, where many men now dwelt. Quickbeam told him of his youthful home in the heights of Fangorn, and how he explored the dark places of the forest. And far from satisfying their desires for adventure, these stories only encouraged them. Amdír came often to Fangorn and in Quickbeam the desire to travel outside the forest grew even greater. But when elves did not come to Fangorn one summer, Quickbeam would roam the borders, forsaking his duty as a guardian of the rowans.  
  
When this turn of events came to the attention of Treebeard, he was quite unsettled. A hasty Ent was one thing, but an Ent ignoring it's charges was something totally different. Though he would say otherwise if you asked him, he was quite hasty in deciding what to do and quickly met with the other eldest Ents in Fangorn, Skinbark and Leaflock, thought the last was quite sleepy and even Treebeard found himself grow impatient with him. After many days of deliberations and hooms, hrums and hmms, they finally decided.  
  
The three elders found Quickbeam in his usual place at the edge of the forest, awaiting the next visit of the elves. So engrossed was he that he hardly heard the elders approaching. When he turned, it was Skinbark who spoke to him first. "You must go," he commanded to a suddenly very confused Quickbeam.  
  
Treebeard shifted somewhat uncomfortably at this. "Hoom, let's not be too hasty now. We have decided it is time for you to leave this forest, but not forever. You must learn patience, young one and also duty. You are already wandering away from these forests, I think. Very hasty of you, setting out in your mind before you have caught up with the rest of you. Wouldn't you agree Leaflock?" Treebeard asked the other elder, who had remained silent until now.  
  
"Hmmm, yes, most hasty, of course…" Leaflock muttered sleepily. Quickbeam stood astonished for quite a long time, not knowing what to think, for he suddenly had the freedom he desired. But he had never left the forest of Fangorn, which had been his home since before memory.  
  
"Who will tend my groves then?" He asked after a long pause.  
  
"Seeing as I have been doing it for quite a while now, rather than you, I will. I am after all, the guardian of the forest." Treebeard answered. There was silence for time, as none of the elders quite knew what to do, for they had never been presented with such an unusual Ent. Finally and uncharacteristically, Leaflock spoke up.  
  
"Do not be hasty in deciding young one. This is not a decision to be impulsive about." He advised, before turning and moving off sleepily into the forest. Skinbark followed, but Treebeard hesitated, as though he wanted to say more, a very unentish thing to do, for Ents usually thought long and hard about what they would say. But he remained silent, as he too followed Leaflock under Fangorn's dark boughs.  
  
1.1 


	3. Journey

1.1 Journey  
  
Before a few days had passed, Amdír came again to the eaves of Fangorn, where he met a much-changed Quickbeam, who was now torn with indecision. When he told the Elven king of his dilemma, Amdír smiled easily. "This is a problem simply solved, my friend. You must come to Lorinand and finally see the beauty of my home, as I have done with yours." He declared. And so, when Amdír returned to Lorinand, Quickbeam went with him, stepping beyond the borders of Fangorn for the first time.  
  
In a later time, it would have been a very unusual site, an Elven ruler with his party, traveling with a great Ent, across the field of Celebrant to Lorinand. But this was a time when there were fewer eyes and men still dwelt in distant and isolated places.  
  
After a day of travel, Amdír and his party finally reached the edge of Lorinand. As he strode under the boughs of the great mallorn trees, Quickbeam entered into a surreal realm. Lorinand was bright and peaceful, much different from the dark and ancient beauty of Fangorn. Quickbeam stood beneath a massive mallorn tree and sang to it in a soft voice and it spoke back to him of long days of peace and care under of the elves. He felt goodness in the trees that he had seldom felt in Fangorn. The whole forest spoke to him of an Elven presence. He would have tarried longer among the trees, but Amdír beckoned him onward into the heart of the forest. Reluctantly, Quickbeam followed the king deeper.  
  
At last they came to the heart of Lorinand, where the oldest and tallest mallorn trees grew, massive trees as tall as mountains, with platforms hanging high in their boughs. Upon these platforms were built the dwellings of the elves, homes of a simple, pure and ancient beauty. Quickbeam stared in amazement, for he had seen little of Elven works and indeed, he had seen few things in Middle-Earth that had been crafted by the hands of men, elves or dwarves.  
  
"This is the home of my people, the Silvan elves of Lorinand. For many generations we laboured to make the forest what it is now. There are few places for our people now left in the Middle-Earth, so this will become a haven." Amdír told Quickbeam. He moved toward one of the spidery silver stairways that extended up to the platforms, but then halted, realizing Quickbeam would be unable to follow him upward, for the Ent was much too tall for the slender stair. He grinned to Quickbeam. "Perhaps it will be good for me to sleep on the forest floor tonight, for I sometimes forget that my realm is not confined to the branches of Lorinand's trees. What say I show you the rest of this forest?"  
  
Quickbeam tarried in Lorinand for a long time, forgetting his cares about the world, exploring the small Elven forest with it's ethereal beauty and sense of peace, for Lorinand was untroubled by turmoil from the outside world, much like Quickbeam's home of Fangorn. The gentle Celebrant flowed undisturbed through the forest and Quickbeam would spend much of his time by this stream, listening to the sound of the water with a solemn peacefulness. Often he would be seen in empty dales, singing softly to the trees in his own language and the new languages the elves had taught him. Lorinand always brought something new everyday to the young Ent and for a time he was happy.  
  
Gradually, though, Quickbeam began to grown restless in Lorinand. He came less often to the groves and hidden dales of the forest, for they talked only of the elves and there was little memory left among even the most ancient trees of the days before the elves came to the forest. They did not remember the ancient days when the world slept in darkness, like the trees of Fangorn. Lorinand was a forest that no longer needed shepherds like the Ents, only the gardeners that were the elves.  
  
Amdír found Quickbeam alongside the banks of the Celebrant, standing and listening to the sound of the river flowing past. Amdír regarded his Entish friend curiously, for it seemed as though Quickbeam had been diminished, like a tree deprived of water.  
  
"What ails you, my friend?" Amdír asked, as he sat down on the riverbank.  
  
Quickbeam was silent for along time before speaking. "I am not sure myself. Lorinand and your people have shown me so many new things. But I feel as though I do not quite belong here. The trees do not need me. This forest does not call out to me. It needs no shepherd."  
  
Amdír nodded in agreement. "I feared it might turn out to be so. This is an old wood, but there have not been Ents here since before I was born." He said. The pair were silent for a while, and then Amdír spoke up again. "My father once told me why our people, the princes of Lorinand, decided to remain in Middle-Earth after the First Age, rather than pass over into the west with many of our kin. He said that Middle-Earth was yet wild and untamed, while the lands over the sea were old and beautiful, but they lacked the life of Middle-Earth. Perhaps that is what you must seek."  
  
"Where would I go? I know nothing of this world. Only once have I passed beyond the borders of Fangorn. I know only there and Lorinand." Quickbeam despaired.  
  
"There is a forest across the great river Anduin…" Amdír said hesitantly. "But I would not willingly counsel you to go there. My cousins rule the elves in the north, but the south has a darkness about it. There are evil things creeping into the forest. If you do go, be wary."  
  
Quickbeam thought for a time. "I believe I must go." He said eventually. "The elders sent me away to find a place of my own. Perhaps I will find it there, or perhaps I will realize I belong elsewhere. But I cannot stay here."  
  
With that, Quickbeam bid Amdír and Lorinand farewell. For two days he walked down the Celebrant until he came to the Great River Anduin, the greatest river of Western Middle-Earth, where men, elves, dwarves and even a strange, small little people called hobbits had made homes. Any one of these people would not have attempted to cross the river without some kind of boat--save perhaps some adventurous young man with more pride than intelligence--but for a tall Ent like Quickbeam, fording the river was a simple feat. He then stood at the edge of Greenwood the Great  
  
In another time not so far from then, this great wood would be named Mirkwood, and dark, evil things would make it their home. It would be many years before the elves living in the north would finally drive them out. When Quickbeam came, however, it was not yet a place of fear and danger. The evil that was Sauron still hid, fearing the wrath of the elves of the west. The Ent found a forest not much different from that he had called home. Except for one great difference. The southern Greenwood was empty and no elves, Ents or men dared to walk under its branches even then. The animals were scarce, wary and small. Quickbeam was often alone among the trees. But this suited him quite well when he arrived, for he intended to become guardian of this forest, much as Treebeard was guardian of Fangorn.  
  
Quickbeam settled into the Greenwood as if he were back home in Fangorn. He whispered to the trees, searched out hidden dales and clearings, and wet his feet in the small streams of the forest. He reveled in the wild feeling of the forest and the untamed feeling of the trees. Yet the longer he stayed, the more Quickbeam began to feel as though there was something amiss. It was an odd feeling that the he could not quite put his finger on. It was as if the trees were not quite right, that there was something sinister or shadowy in them. These trees were wild, almost dangerous, though not to an Ent of course. Try all that he could, Quickbeam could not change this. The trees remained hostile and suspicious. The darkness would never lift from this forest, he concluded. Much like the dark places in Fangorn, there was little he could do here.  
  
Quickbeam's thoughts began to turn to home, where he wondered how Treebeard was tending his rowans and if Skinbark still grumbled of impudent, hasty Entings. As he reminisced, he recalled a tale Treebeard had told him. It had been of the great forest that had once stretched across Eriador, over the Misty Mountains and all the way to Fangorn, but long before the world had changed. That was when he decided. He must go to Eriador, for it seemed as if the East was tainted in darkness, while Eriador in the west might yet be free.  
  
So Quickbeam set out for the west with high hopes, fording the Anduin once again and passing through Lorinand to the mountains beyond. He did not tarry in Lorinand or on the banks of the Anduin, for he desired greatly to see the forest Treebeard had spoken of and hoped that they had not disappeared like so much of what Treebeard remembered. At last he came to the great pass of Caradhras, the over the mountains of Khazhad-Dum. By now, winter was fast approaching and the snows would have deterred any other and they would have sought passage under the mountain, through the dwarves kingdom of Khazhad-Dum. But weather seldom threatens Ents, for they are as strong as they are old. Quickbeam easily passed over the mountains and at last came into the wilds of Eriador. 


	4. Awakening

1 Awakening  
  
Quickbeam came to Eriador as the first snows were descending on a land that had grown sleepy with winter's chill. For Ents, winter is usually a time of rest and reflection, for they are much like trees during this season and Quickbeam would likely have gone to rest near the mountains without a second thought. But when he came out of the foothills of the Misty Mountains, he found no great forests. The land had been swept bare of any great trees, and the few that remained were small and scattered. Quickbeam felt a sudden despair in his heart, for he feared his entire journey had been for naught and that he would have been better off back in Fangorn. In his despair, he wandered aimlessly, not realizing his long strides were taking him steadily north. Unknowingly he came to the valley of Imladris, a place that would someday become a haven for the elves of the west that remained in Middle-Earth. When Quickbeam came, it was only a haven for one Elven lady.  
  
In Imladris Quickbeam found the forests of Treebeard's memory. They were old and pure, untouched by the changes wrought on the world. Here he thought he could be at last happy and make himself a new home here, while he dwelt away from Fangorn. But he was not the only one in the valley who sought to make it a home. A Silvan elf lady, one who belonged to the wandering companies that still sojourned across Middle-Earth, had taken up abode in the valley. Her name was Lhuntathraiel and she was even older than Quickbeam. When she saw Quickbeam walking along the river of the valley, she confronted him, thinking he might be some kind of troll.  
  
"Leave this place evil one. I will not abide your taint in this peaceful vale! I may yet spare you if you go quickly." She commanded. Lhuntathraiel did not fear much in Middle-Earth, for she was old beyond measure and with age to elves, often there also came great knowledge and power. But Quickbeam did not know this, and he was taken aback at her directness.  
  
"I come only seeking the forests of old, I assure you. I am no thing of evil, for indeed, I have fled the evil in the east to come here. I come from the forest of Fangorn." Quickbeam said hurriedly. In his…well, haste, he forgot all about mentioning he was an Ent and Lhuntathraiel still stared at him in suspicion. Never had she seen on of his ilk in her long life.  
  
"That is a place I have heard little of, for my kin across the mountains claim it is a place of darkness and mystery. What manner of fell creature are you?" She asked, though somewhat friendlier, for his words seemed sincere enough.  
  
"I am an Ent and the people of Lorinand call my people the tree- shepherds." Quickbeam answered. Suddenly Lhuntathraiel remembered the tales of the ancient tree herders who had lived in Eriador before her people came out of the east.  
  
"My apologies tree-shepherd. There are dangerous things in this land more often these days. You are more than welcome in this valley." She declared.  
  
Quickbeam remained in Imladris for the entire winter and was content living alongside Lhuntathraiel. He spoke of his travels to her and of Fangorn and she told him of what she knew of Eriador. Both found they sought Eriador for the great forests of old, although both had found very different things. Quickbeam had arrived in Eriador to find the forests he had sought were disappearing. Lhuntathraiel came when the world was still young and the forests yet remained and she had seen the ancient forests at the full glory. Yet, since her coming they had declined, for the Ents had abandoned the forests when they foresaw the rise of men after the First Age. And so the forests of Eriador were not as they had been and were much diminished indeed.  
  
That spring, as Middle-Earth awoke from its slumber, Quickbeam and Lhuntathraiel left the valley, for Quickbeam greatly desired to find what was become of the great forests. Lhuntathraiel took him into the west along the river Bruinen, where the oldest woods still stood. But where once she remembered one dense, massive forest, there were scattered and isolated stands and dark woods hidden in valleys. Quickbeam was amazed when she told him of the change, for he could not comprehend how such a great forest could disappear.  
  
"It is the new races, the second born men and the cursed axe-wielding dwarves. They cut and burn the forests in their furnaces and forges and tear down trees older than their first ancestors to build houses and farms. Only the Orcs cause greater destruction so willfully." Lhuntathraiel said scornfully.  
  
The venom in her voice disturbed Quickbeam, as she spoke of races Amdír had once named among friends. "But the men who live here now fought alongside the dwarves and elves of the west against the great evil long ago. Have they fallen so far?" He asked.  
  
"The allies of the Noldor? They are not much better. There was peace in Middle-Earth when the Sindar ruled in Doriath, but the Noldor brought the evil of the west in their cursed war for the Jewels of Fëanor. Death and destruction has been the lot of my people ever since." Lhuntathraiel claimed angrily. Quickbeam left her in silence afterward, but his heart was troubled, for Amdír had often spoken of the men called Edain who fought bravely defending the elves of Doriath and the Noldor. Of the dwarves Amdír spoke seldom, but never had he spoken against them. Instead of worrying, however, Quickbeam turned his energies to the forests of Eriador, for they were scattered and forsaken.  
  
Many years Quickbeam passed while he dwelt in Eriador. Lhuntathraiel taught him much about the lands of Eriador and what they had once been like. This memory was what Quickbeam ever strove for, but his task was difficult. After the departure of the Ents, the trees had become wild and reclusive. They did not speak to Quickbeam and were like those he had felt in the Greenwood. No matter what they were, evergreen, birch, yew or even rowan, all were hostile to the young Ents whispered words. To the day he departed, Quickbeam was never truly accepted by the forests. Even more rare was the tree that would listen to his words. There were places in Eriador where the trees themselves formed the shadows they dwelt in and evil motives drove the trees to action.  
  
As Quickbeam laboured over these years, Middle-Earth changed around him. Often he would be walking with Lhuntathraiel and see columns of smoke rising in the distance, sometimes small and wispy, other times heavy and black. He would not ask Lhuntathraiel what they were, for he feared she would answer with the same vehemence that she had used when speaking of the Noldor and their allies. Instead, Quickbeam resolved to find out for himself exactly what the source of the smoke was. Following one through the forest, he came upon a hill overlooking a small river and was astonished to find a small hamlet of woodsmen, with smoke curling up from houses and forges. Land was cleared around the houses, but it was still surround by much forest. He watched in fascination as children played amongst the houses and the men and women of the place went about their daily routines, oblivious to the Ent watching them.  
  
"They cut down the trees, burn the wood and despoil the forest." Lhuntathraiel said as she came up behind the silent Ent. "Then the Orcs come to raid them and they burn great stands of trees for sheer spite, and make clouds of black smoke, spreading their darkness. If this continues, there will be no forest left to sing of."  
  
Quickbeam said nothing as he continued to watch the children play innocently among the houses. Afterward he came to the hamlet often, watching the unsuspecting humans, remembering his home and the days of his youth. Lhuntathraiel's heart began to turn against him, for she disapproved of the humans and felt Quickbeam was betraying the forests. But he would not listen to her words, for he perceived that they were filled with misplaced hatred and fear. Nevertheless, she began to grow more distant and aloof towards him with every passing day.  
  
At night Quickbeam would often wander the moonlit forests, for that was when the trees of Eriador were at their most wild. He would seek to curb this and set them to rest like their kin elsewhere in the world. On of these nights he was torn from his duty by red flames lighting the night in a familiar spot. With a sudden sense of doom, Quickbeam charged through the forest to the hamlet of human homes. He arrived to see the town in flames and evil at work. Orcs from the Misty Mountains, who had followed their human prey to Eriador, were burning and looting the homes. They slew all who stood against them. Lhuntathraiel already stood atop the hill, observing the scene in front of her impassively.  
  
"Come, we must help! Surely we can put the Orcs to flight?" Quickbeam urged. But Lhuntathraiel stood unmoved.  
  
"They have brought this upon themselves. Let them kill each other, for then there will be none to burn the forests and chop the trees." She declared. Quickbeam stared at her in shock, unable to fathom her callous actions. Anger soon replaced that and a strength born of ages of quiet and solitude exploded from him. He dashed into the hamlet with frightening speed, for an Ent at a full charge is a terrifying thing. With strength enough to crush boulders, he slew the Orcs while they were unawares, scattering them in fear and confusion. But many escaped and with them they took prisoners, children whom Quickbeam had watched play so happily.  
  
Awash in despair and anger, Quickbeam fled the village. He had seen the true darkness of the world face-to-face and it had sickened him. It had been in the murderous glee of the Orcish raiders and in the callous dismissal of the humans by Lhuntathraiel. Quickbeam knew Eriador was not his place anymore and turned his back on the wild forests. With his great strides, he set out for home. 


	5. The Return

1 Return  
  
Quickbeam felt Fangorn was changed. He had returned only a short while before, but still it was unfamiliar, unlike the forest he had known in his youth. There was no longer a mystery behind it to Quickbeam. It was simply home, the forest of the Ents. It was still beautiful, but it was not the home he had left behind.  
  
Treebeard knew better, however, and he saw it quite keenly when Quickbeam returned to Fangorn. Quickbeam was still the same hasty Ent, still moving and acting on feelings and instinct, rather than slowly thinking his way through things in the usual Entish fashion. But his travels had changed him. He still laughed, but they were not the carefree laughs of his youth, when he had taken so much joy from life in Fangorn. As Treebeard would later put it, "He was still Quickbeam, but now he was sure of it."  
  
When Quickbeam returned to the forest, he sought out the elders, for he expected them to judge him and decide whether he had changed enough to return to Fangorn. He never suspected the elders had sent him away hoping he would discover how he must change on his own. Once again, it was Skinbark who spoke first to him.  
  
"You have returned from a journey." It was more of a statement than question from the elder. "Where have you been?" Skinbark asked.  
  
"I have journeyed among all the great forests that remain in the west. I have visited Lorinand, the Greenwood and all that remains of the forests of Eriador. I have learned much and seen more than I could ever dream of." Quickbeam would have continued, but Treebeard halted him.  
  
"Hoom, still hasty I see, much the same. Yet I sense a shadow on you. You have seen the evil that this world holds, that I do not doubt. You understand then, the place of the Ent? You are not long on Middle- Earth, but like us you have a great duty to the living things." Treebeard told him. Quickbeam cringed inside at still being labeled hasty.  
  
Finally, sleepy Leaflock spoke up. "You have changed much. Not so hesitant now. Hastier perhaps even. But wiser yes, hasty and wise…" the elder seemed to trail off into sleep right in front of him. Quickbeam nodded, realizing that the elder spoke the truth. He was now surer of himself and no longer needed the guidance of his elders. Perhaps that was why they had sent him away? he wondered to himself. Seeing that the elders had finished with him, he moved off into the forest to visit the rowan groves he had missed for so long.  
  
As he slowly walked among his old friends of the forest, Quickbeam became aware of another Ent standing nearby. Turning around, he saw Treebeard standing solemnly, watching the younger Ent whispering to the trees. Quickbeam came and stood near him, silently. Uncharacteristically, it was Treebeard who broke the silence between the two.  
  
"Hrum, we sent you away hoping you might find a place for yourself, but I think instead that we have found ourselves instead." Treebeard told the younger Ent.  
  
"I do not understand. I have not changed so much. I am still the hasty Ent of Fangorn and I do not think I can ever change that. But I thought that was why I was sent away. My hastiness needed to be curbed." Quickbeam said.  
  
"We sent you away so you would better know yourself. Hastiness is a dangerous thing when you do not know your own limits. Hoom, I know some very unhasty Ents who have gotten themselves into some very bad places because they did not know themselves. We hoped this would not happen to you." Treebeard explained. He seemed to sigh. "There is nothing wrong with being hasty much of the time, as long as one is not too hasty all of the time. Even I can be roused, Hom." With that, he left the Quickbeam to himself.  
  
Quickbeam stayed in Fangorn, though he sometimes strayed beyond it's borders, for he still had a bit of an adventurous spirit inside him. But never again would he go to Eriador or the Greenwood, for he knew evil dwelt there. In Fangorn he tended the rowan trees and walked among the dark branches of the ancient forest, a single peculiar Ent with a very hasty attitude.  
  
He would still thus be known thousands of years later, when two young hobbits would find themselves in Fangorn, after fleeing from a band of Orcs on the plains of Rohan. But that is another story, for another time, one that I will not seek to tell. 


End file.
